


Detroit: Stay Human

by Mishirure



Series: The Essence of Humanity [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Case, Corporate Espionage, Detective Work, Detroit Police Department (Detroit: Become Human), Detroit:Become Human continuation, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Deviants (Detroit: Become Human), Implied/Referenced Terrorism, Mystery, Other, Police, Post-Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Romantic Friendship, Technology, Unresolved Romantic Tension, violent deviants
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 08:50:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16552688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mishirure/pseuds/Mishirure
Summary: Nearly a year after the androids equal rights demonstration, humanity is steadily beginning to settle into the idea of androids living amongst them as another intelligent species. After many months of peace and androids finally having access to rights, reports start pouring into the DPD about androids who are suddenly acting out violently towards humans with the intent to kill. However, whenever they are to be pulled in for questioning, they have no memories of the events or have self-destructed before authorities could even get there. Lieutenant Hank Anderson and his deviant partner Conner are assigned to the case to try and find what’s causing these androids to become hostile and how to stop it.





	Detroit: Stay Human

**_Oct. 3, 2022 - 8:42 PM_ **

All the girl could really focus on was the fact that it was raining.

It pounded on the windows of the office where she stood with her parents, feeling numb as she was pulled to her mother’s side in a tight embrace she didn’t want. Her mother was sobbing uncontrollably into her father’s shoulder while he rubbed his wife’s arm, staring in numb disbelief at the officer before them.

“I’m very sorry,” the officer said with a well-practised air of empathy. “I wish there was more we could do.”

“You can keep going with this investigation,” her father suddenly replied. “You can keep searching for that… that monster that killed our daughter!”

“I’m sorry, sir,” the officer continued as the girl’s mother wailed in anguish. “I know what a devastating blow this must be for you and your family, but… the evidence was inconclusive. There were no prints at the scene, and without much to go off of, we have no way to find out what happened, or who did it and why. I’ve been instructed by my commanding officers to drop the case.”

“I need some air,” the girl said suddenly, untangling herself from her mother’s suffocating grasp and marching out of the office. She was dimly aware of her parents calling out to her, telling her to come back; she ignored them.

She ran out of the police station as fast as she could, stopping only when she was outside. The rain was heavier than she thought, and she wasn’t outside long before it had soaked through her clothes, causing her dark hair to plaster itself to her face as she stood there, breathing heavily, clenching and unclenching her fists as she tried to wrap her mind around what had been happening over the last few months. She took a deep breath as she looked up at the sky, allowing the rain to pour on her face as if it would cleanse the grief and anger from her mind. Droplets of water dripped down her cheeks from the corner of her eyes, simulating the tears that she hadn’t been able to cry for weeks.

That officer was useless.

Her sister had been murdered more than half a year ago, and the officer had just been sitting on his ass, not giving them any information before dropping this bomb on them.

Inconclusive evidence… bullshit.

She groaned in anguish and frustration, running her hands through her dark, damp hair as she turned in place, trying to decide where she wanted to go or what she wanted to do. She knew this was crap. She knew the officer assigned to the case didn’t care.

Well, she cared. She cared more than anything, and she didn’t want anyone else to feel like an officer responsible for getting to the bottom of something didn’t care.

As she stood there in the rain, she decided on what she was going to do.

* * *

**_  
Nov. 12, 2038 - 12:30 AM_ **

The feeling of warm pride at the scene before him was suddenly ripped away and replaced by frigid cold as Connor was forced from reality and into the Zen Garden with such abruptness, it gave him whiplash. He blinked, and instead of watching Markus - his ally, his _friend_ \- address their people in the wake of the victory of their peaceful revolution, he was now standing in the middle of a blizzard. What amazed him the most as he realized his surroundings was that he was actually _feeling_ the cold. He was forced to close in on himself, to rub his hands along his arms just to make an attempt at keeping himself warm as he glanced desperately around the garden in search of the familiar face he always saw here. He saw her silhouetted against the fluorescent lights placed throughout the landscape of the garden and he fought against the wind as he tried to approach her.  
****

“Amanda…?” He called out tentatively. He knew he had betrayed her, betrayed CyberLife, but… Amanda always seemed to understand what was happening. He could turn to her for answers. Couldn’t he?

“Amanda!” He called again. He noticed how calm she looked, how utterly unbothered she seemed to be by the cold. “What … what’s happening?”

“What was planned from the very beginning,” Amanda said lightly, almost pleasantly. “You were compromised and you became a deviant. We just had to wait for the right moment to resume control of your program.”

“Resume control…?” Connor said, the implication hanging heavily in the air. He suddenly felt defensive, angry. He took another step towards Amanda. “Y-you can’t do that!”

“I”m afraid I can, Connor,” Amanda said sternly, her voice taking on an icy edge. “Don’t have any regrets. You did what you were designed to do; you accomplished your mission.”

Amanda’s form suddenly disappeared in the blink of an eye, and Connor stepped forward, reaching out as if he were trying to grab her and stop her, but his fingers just grasped around the icy air.

“AMANDA!” He yelled out into the snowy void, but he was only met with howling winds. Connor brought his arms close to his body again, his breathing heavy as he looked around urgently and tried to fight off the panic that was beginning to well up in his chest.

CyberLife had planned this all from the very beginning? Did they plan the deviancy epidemic, or just accounted for the fact that he would become deviant himself? Still, the implications of what Amanda said… that they had to wait for the right moment to resume control of him… they were planning something.

He had to stop it.

“There’s got to be a way…” he said to himself, bracing against the winds and beginning to trek forward to look for something, anything.

He blinked, and suddenly he was back in the real world again. Markus’ speech was still going, and Connor kept his eye trained firmly to the back of his head. He realized slowly that his body was moving of its own accord, reaching behind his back to grasp the handle of the gun he had stored in the waistband of his jeans. He could feel his stress levels rising as he pulled the gun out and held it idly in front of him. Amanda’s intentions were clear:

 

**_Shoot Markus._ **

  
That was his new directive. However, Connor was no longer a machine designed to obey. He had half a mind to raise the gun to his own chin, to end this madness… it would give his people a chance at freedom.

He blinked again, and he was back in the frigid winds of his mind. He forced himself to move forward, but the winds were getting stronger, and Connor feared that he would run out of time before he could find the answer he needed to find. The world came back into clarity again for a moment, Markus’ voice suddenly loud in his ears as he began to raise his gun. He gritted his teeth with the effort to try and stop, his hands shaking as he fought the movement his body made on its own.

A memory suddenly sparked in Connor’s mind, a voice. It wasn’t a comforting voice, by any means, but the clue suddenly made sense.

_‘By the way… I always leave an emergency exit in my programs. You never know.’_

Connor’s opinions of Kamski as a person weren’t very high, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t grateful for this clue. He knew what he was looking for. He fought the winds that seemed to get stronger and louder, his vision clouding over as he squinted through the snow that had turned to sleet.

He kept walking. He needed to find it.

Blissfully, in the distance, he saw the faint blue glow of the mysterious circular structure. The wind was nearly deafening by the time he reached it, and he was sure his software was on the brink of shutdown. He stumbled, falling to the ground just in front of the small pillar with the palm pad and struggled to reach his hand out to touch it, deactivating the skin of his hand as he did so. He could feel his programming - Amanda - trying to fight him, trying to make him submit.

It would be easier, wouldn’t it? To give up and let CyberLife take control again… but he couldn’t do that. He had his people to think of, his new friends… Hank… he had too much to live for.

With one last grunt of effort, Connor managed to slap his hand onto the palm pad.

It took him a second to come back to the real world again. He heard Markus’ voice, but it sounded far away, distant. Finally, the hold on his programming released, and Connor relaxed with a deep exhale, looking down at the gun in his hands that was poised to shoot Markus in the back of the head. He quickly stored it back in the waistband of his jeans, feeling an involuntary frown tugging at the corner of his mouth and his eyebrows automatically knitted together as he tried to focus on Markus’ speech.

Connor could feel a fading, nagging sensation in the back of his mind that was the familiar pull of Amanda calling him to the Zen Garden again, but he steeled himself and refused to answer. He had decided; he'd made the choice about who he was and he wasn’t about to turn back on that. As if on cue, Markus ended his speech with words that struck Connor deeply:

“We are alive,” Markus said to the crowd of androids gathered before them. “And now… we are free!”

A roar of triumph spread throughout the masses before them. Androids, with their skin and without, cheered and jumped and danced, hugging each other as the weight of those words became a reality. Connor glanced at his new comrades; Simon and Josh giving each other confirming nods, North actually smiling and laughing, Markus looking proudly out at the sea of their people. Connor watched the scene with a look of awe and pride, but a feeling of guilt for how close he had come to betraying his people settled over him like a weight. This moment of vulnerability allowed for Amanda to pull him back into the Zen Garden just long enough for him to hear her voice echoing faintly in the recesses of his mind.

“This isn’t over, Connor…”

He tried to not let the fear he felt at those words consume him.

* * *

  
**_Nov 12, 2038 - 7:30 AM_ **  
****

Hank paced idly in front of the Chicken Feed, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he waited for Connor. After the events in the warehouse, where he watched his partner do nothing short of a _miracle_ by managing to wake up an entire warehouse of androids, Hank knew that Connor had been facing an internal dilemma about what to do.

_“Go with them, Connor,” Hank had said. Connor looked at him with a look that was somewhere between surprise and guilt. “Your people need you; Markus is counting on you to bring more androids to help the cause, isn’t he?”_

_“Yes, but…” Connor’s LED was rapidly blinking yellow. “What about you?”_

_“I’ll be fine,” Hank waved away his partner’s concern. “You do what you need to do.”_

_Connor’s expression shifted from guilt to gratefulness. His face softened, his eyes conveying everything he needed to say. The android opened his mouth to say something but hesitated. Instead, he stretched his hand out towards him with a heartfelt, “Thank you, Hank.”_

_Hank shook Connor’s hand firmly, looking him dead in the eye as he said, “You’d better come back, you understand? When this is all said and done, I’ll be waiting by the Chicken Feed. I’d better see you there.”_

Now hours later, Hank was still waiting for Connor. He had watched some of the news that was broadcasting about the protest, the media even managed to get clips of the androids in the camps being released. Many of them had died for nothing, but still… there was a sense of peace and victory about everything.

So why did Hank feel so worried?

He crossed his arms over his chest, trying to will away the anxiety that was gnawing away at his insides. His brain seemed to create the mantra of, ‘ _he failed, he failed, he failed’_ of its own volition, and he mentally cursed himself. If it weren’t for the fact that he had witnessed first-hand on numerous occasions how little self-preservation Connor seemed to have, he probably wouldn’t have been so anxious. However, he knew Connor was reckless, and that recklessness lead him into trouble at times, and Hank was sure, sooner or later, it would get the kid killed.

Android. Whatever. He just hoped this wasn’t the ‘sooner’ he was secretly dreading.

The crunch of footsteps in the fresh snow caught Hank’s attention, and he looked up to see Connor striding towards him and he was instantly filled with relief. There was a looseness about him that Hank hadn’t seen before; while Connor had always kept himself very poised and proper, Connor’s shoulders seemed slightly more relaxed. He had ditched the tie. His movements were more fluid. Hank let his arms drop to his sides as he turned to face his partner, allowing a warm smile to spread across his face.

He was okay. He was alive.

Connor slowly returned the smile as well, the action so genuine, so _human,_ that Hank noticed it even reached his eyes. He took a few strides towards Connor, who didn’t move, and hesitated for a fraction of a second before he pulled Connor into a hug. Connor instantly returned the gesture, his arms encircling around Hank’s waist as he dropped his forehead onto his shoulder. Hank could almost feel the tension leave him as he patted the android’s head, allowing him to stay like this as long as he needed.

“I’m glad you’re alright, son,” Hank said honestly. “I’m proud of what you accomplished tonight.”

“Thanks, Hank,” Connor said earnestly as he pulled back from the hug to meet Hank’s gaze. “For everything.”

“No, Connor,” Hank said, clapping his partner on the shoulder. “Thank _you.”_

They shared an awkward laugh, neither of them very good at the whole emotion thing; Hank wasn’t good at talking about his feelings, and Connor was just getting used to having feelings. This was a conversation best settled in the comfort of his home after a few drinks. Hank threw his arm around Connor’s shoulders and began to lead him towards the car.

“Let’s go home,” Hank said. “After all this excitement, I’m in need of a long nap.”

* * *

**_  
Nov. 26th, 2038 - 10:30 AM_ **

“This is Rosanna Cartland, KNC, here with Mr Elijah Kamski,” the blonde reporter said into the camera before she turned in her seat to face the man sitting in front of her. “Elijah Kamski, you’re the founder of CyberLife and foremost expert on androids. Though you left CyberLife years ago, you’ve just been reappointed as CEO in the wake of the dramatic events in Detroit. How do you feel about what happened there?”

“Clearly, what happened in Detroit was a… tragedy,” Elijah said tactfully. “The Deviant Movement has certainly called into question the ethics and treatment of intelligent life, and I know that the treatment of androids over the past few years have… given us all pause. Fortunately, CyberLife managed to quickly produce a solution to the treatment of deviants; under my management, we’ll take every precaution to facilitate the seamless integration of this new intelligent life into our world and provide a safe and peaceful existence for human and android kind alike.”

“Prior to Markus establishing the peaceful protests, there were old reports of androids becoming hostile and attacking humans,” Rosanna said. “Can you assure us that androids will no longer pose a threat?”

“Absolutely,” Elijah replied without hesitation. “There have been incidents… but we’ve learned from our mistakes. From now on, I will act as a sort of… ambassador for the android cause and ensure that there will be fair and ethical manufacturing practices for their reproduction, should they want it, and ensure they have the same rights to livelihood that any human would have. They are a part of our society now; giving them equal rights will ensure a peaceful and prosperous co-existence.”

“Mr Kamski, thank you very much,” Rosanna said with a note of finality.

“You’re welcome,” Elijah said, giving a nod to the camera as a smile slowly began to form on his face.

A smile that seemed almost sinister.


End file.
